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I was sitting next to one of my Japanese coworkers today and we were talking about ropeways, cable cars, and just some differences between English and Japanese. For some reason or another, I was flipping through a Japanese textbook of mine, and tucked away index were some Japanese notes I had scribbled to myself. On this paper, I had written down some things I wanted to know how to say in Japanese. One of these things was a basic that I still wasn’t do: say basic math functions in Japanese.
Since I had already started a fun little conversation with the Japanese teacher next to me, I decided to ask the teacher some basic math questions. It ended up being a great idea, because it transformed from a basic Q & A into a mini language exchange. This teacher was just as interested in learning how to say these functions in English as I was about learning them in Japanese. We both pulled out our notebooks and pencils, and the learning process began.
The great thing about having this conversation with my fellow teacher, was that it answered a question that I have been meaning to ask for weeks now. Ever wondered how to say equations in Japanese? Well, I did, and when one of my students put me on the spot about a month ago, I honestly didn’t know how to explain even the most basic of equations in Japanese. It’s really basic stuff, but easy to overlook; I guess when you go to a store or even to a bank, nobody’s going to say “Hey you! Quick, read this equation.”
Today, let’s go through some basic math together. Yes, I know the problems are really easy, but there is a little twist is I’m going to give you today. I’m going to tell you how to read each of these equations in Japanese:
1. ADDITION: Tasu (足す)
2. SUBTRACTION: Hiku (ひく or 引く)
3. MULTIPLICATION: Kakeru (掛ける or かける)
**One teacher was telling me that for “kakeru”
we often just use the hiragana, and not the kanji as much.**
4. DIVISION: Waru (割る or わる)
1 + 1 = 2
Ichi tasu ichi wa ni
いちたすいちはに
一足す一波に
5 + 8 = 13
Go tasu hachi wa jusan
ごたすはちはじゅうさん
五足す八は十三
75 + 65 = 140
Nanajugo tasu rokujugo wa hyaku yon ju
ななじゅうごたすろくじゅうごはひゃくよんじゅう
七十五足す六十五は百四十
5 – 3 = 2
go hiku san wa ni
ごひくさんはに
五引く三は二
9 – 1 = 8
Kyu hiku ichi wa hachi
きゅうひくいちははち
九引く一は八
114 – 15 = 99
Hyakujuyon hiku jugo wa kyujukyu
ひゃくひくじゅうごはきゅうじゅうきゅう
百引く十五は九十九
2 ÷ 2 = 1
Ni waru ni wa ichi
にわるにわいち
二割る二は一
42 ÷ 7 = 6
Yon jyu ni waru nana wa roku
よんじゅうにわるななはろく
四十に割る七はろく
3000 ÷ 3 = 1000
Sanzen waru 3 wa sen
さんぜんわるさんはせん
三千割る三は千
4 x 5 = 20
Yon kakeru go wa nijyu
よんかけるごは二十
四掛ける五は虹湯
9 x 9 = 81
Kyu kakeru kyu wa hachijyu ici.
きゅかけるきゅうははちじゅういち
九掛ける九は八十一
1000 x 100 = 100000
Sen kakeru hyaku wa juman
せんかけるひゃくはじゅうまん
千掛ける百は一万
That wraps up our brief arithmetic lesson for today. I hope you got something useful out of it.
Happy number crunchin’!
Donald Ash
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